Hidden in Plain View
If you are in Alean’s and my home for any extended period, there is a phrase you will eventually hear. “It’s right there by the mustard.”
There is a story behind that silly phrase that I will not go into, but what I will tell you is that this is a humorous way for each of us to tell the other, “It’s right there in plain sight.” It’s the, “Where are my sunglasses?” that are literally on top of my head. It’s the “Where is the rubber spatula?” that is leaning against the side of the bowl.
“Where is that leftover green-bean casserole from yesterday?” It’s right next to the mustard.
Hidden in Plain View
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
– 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, ESV
Christ-follower, there are things you see that others do not see. There are things you know that others do not know. There are things that make perfect sense to you that other do not have the capacity to understand. For them, it does not exist while, for you, it is right next to the mustard.
To explain this reality to the believers at Corinth, the apostle Paul referred back to a precious promise God made to his people through the prophet Isaiah.
From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
– Isaiah 64:4, ESV
The promise from Isaiah was made to, and applied specifically to, the nation of Israel. Paul has taken that promise and given it a New Covenant extension. What was a specific promise is now a global promise, in that it is granted to all who love the Lord of glory, crucified by the princes of this world. For them, it was hidden in plain view.
None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
– 1 Corinthians 2:8, ESV
Three truths slide into view with what we are seeing in Paul’s letter to Corinth.
Since the Beginning
This is a wisdom decreed of God since before time, “hidden” yet revealed through the prophets who have been speaking since the world began.1
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
– 1 Corinthians 2:6-7, ESV
For Those Who Wait
Isaiah, above, said that God acts on behalf of those who wait for him. It was true in Isaiah’s day and it is true for you today. Paul describes them (us) rather poetically in this letter to Timothy.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
– 2 Timothy 4:7-8, ESV
Those who “wait for the Lord” in Isaiah are those who “have loved his appearing” in Timothy. That’s you.
Too Much to Fully Grasp
Even acknowledging what we do understand, that which is revealed to us through God’s Spirit, there is much that is too advanced for our finite minds to grasp. I have long held that anything I can fully wrap my mind around is not big enough to be my God. That applies here. The apostle John saw some of what is to come, and using the best human-understandable terminology, he described to us the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from God, out of heaven, and the great voice saying “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”2
On that day, our eyes will see, our ears will hear, and our hearts will understand the love of God love in Christ Jesus. For now, we are satisfied to know this:
For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
– 1 Corinthians 2:11-16, ESV
1. Luke 1:70
2. Revelation 21:3b
